


Despair's Virtual World

by Zeus Bunny (DaughterOfMyth)



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7404829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfMyth/pseuds/Zeus%20Bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*SDR2 SPOILER WARNING*</p><p>"She let them go free because she knew the despair it would cause."</p><p>It had been fourteen months since Hinata and the other survivors left the simulation of Jabberwock Island. During that time, the survivors of Sword Art Online have been working with programmers to help awaken the students who were lost during the game. One day, Kirito visits Hinata to tell him that, while it will still be a while before the students will awaken in the real world, they have found their friends in the virtual world. They are now in a world called Eden, and they've prepared a way for the survivors to meet up with the casualties.</p><p>Will the reunions lead to repaired relationships and healed hearts? Or is the relationship between a killer and their victim unrepairable, regardless of the circumstances?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Despair's Virtual World

**Author's Note:**

> So! This is my second Dangan Ronpa crossover fic! I REALLY wanted to continue my first fic with SDR2, but was having trouble figuring out how to crossover Ace Attorney and the virtual reality aspect of SDR2. Then I remembered SAO, and everything just sort of clicked. I might add more SAO elements as this progresses, but at the moment, it is much more SDR2 focused.
> 
> So, as with my other fic, I apologize if I switch between using first names for some characters and last names for others. I will try to be consistent as best as I can.

It took fourteen months. Every single day of those fourteen months Hinata sat at home, refreshing his e-mail, and wondering if he could’ve done anything different. Makoto Naegi stopped by every so often to check up on Hinata. Occasionally, he would bring one of the other students too. Mostly, Aoi Asahina would volunteer to come along, but Sonia Nevermind also stopped by from time to time with cookies or brownies. However, as Makoto would later report to Kirigiri, “Hinata is unresponsive”.

Makoto even went so far as to bring the two kids who were helping recover the other students one day. Hinata guessed that Makoto was trying to share some of that “hope” he constantly talked about. Makoto explained that they were two kids who were once trapped in Sword Art Online. With their expertise and the mass amount of programmers working together to save the students, it wouldn’t be long before they would be back in the real world where they belonged. Hinata couldn’t give less of a shit. His faith was dead.

This was all his fault.

Those words kept infiltrating Hinata’s thoughts as if Komaeda himself were whispering beside him. It was always Komaeda’s voice too. Hinata would lay awake at night and hear that wispy, innocent voice taunting him.

He was just a reserve student. He was worthless. If he had possessed even the slightest bit of talent, maybe he would’ve been able to stop this. No one would’ve been murdered. Everyone would be back in the real world once more.

Hinata looked to his left and could practically see Komaeda sitting there with that crazy smile of his. _It was all for hope! It was all so that your light could shine brighter_ , Komaeda would say. _It isn’t your fault you were too pathetic to help out. It isn’t your fault that you didn’t realize, despite the mass amount of unrealistic elements, that none of that reality was real. No one would expect anything better of a mere reserve student. No one expects anything from trash like us._

_Although, at least I was a good stepping stone. I died just as I was supposed to._

Hinata rolled over on his bed, away from the ghost of Komaeda. Yet, the voice in his head echoed like a church bell during a funeral. It was all his fault. He should’ve died. He should be in there with them. No one should be trapped now. He should’ve stopped it. It was all his fault. It was all his fault. It was all his fault.

There was a knock on his door. Hinata didn’t move.

“Hinata Hajime?” a voice asked. It was unfamiliar and male. Hinata didn’t respond. “Your mother said you are here… I am going to open the door if that is alright.”

There was a moment of silence while the stranger waited for Hinata to respond. When he didn’t, the stranger opened up the door slowly and peered inside. Hinata looked over the blankets he was curled up in. The stranger was one of the kids that Makoto had brought over. What was his name again?

“I don’t know if you remember me, but I am Kirito. Asuna and I were working on getting your friends back?” he said. He was trying to get Hinata to respond to anything, but Hinata couldn’t even muster up the energy to speak. Today had been an awful day. The memory of Komaeda just wouldn’t leave him alone.

“W-Well, I am here to tell you that we got the gate up and running,” Kirito stated. There was more silence. “I… You probably don’t know what that means, but it means you can visit your friends now.”

Hinata felt his body grow cold. He could see them now, and that made him happy beyond belief, but would they want to see him? After all, he failed them. He couldn’t save them. Would they be angry? What if they didn’t want to see him?

Hinata’s chest felt tight. His heart was beating fast. He felt nauseous. Hinata placed one hand down on the mattress and forced himself into a sitting position. He looked at the young man standing before him. The dark haired man looked like he hadn’t slept in a while and was running on caffeine. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and he was wearing sweat pants and a sweatshirt. Suddenly, Hinata felt a lot less embarrassed about his own appearance.

“We can’t get them out of the virtual world, but we have found them all and put them together in a virtual landscape based around the SAO engine. We are calling it Eden,” Kirito explained. “Our next task will be researching the Virtual Reality system that they used one you guys to see if we can find a safe way to remove them from the world.”

That was right. The only reason that Hinata and the others were allowed to leave was because Junko Enoshima allowed it. She _let_ them go free because she knew the despair it would cause.

They still didn’t know where she was. They still didn’t know how she survived her execution during the High School Life of Mutual Killing. They didn’t know how she managed to kidnap Hinata’s entire class, nor who helped her do it. They didn’t know how she managed to brainwash the entire group into doing her bidding, nor why she had them commit crimes in the name of despair, knowing the police were looking for them.

All they knew was that she tried to send the students to Sword Art Online when it first came out. Alter Ego intervened. Instead of being sent to Sword Art Online, Alter Ego erased their memories and put them into an old, discarded beta map called Jabberwock Island. Alter Ego then created Nanami and Usagi to try and combat their brainwashing, while Junko created Monokuma to try and resume the Life of Mutual Killing.

With the help of Makoto and the others, the students convinced Junko to allow them to escape, leaving the other students behind. The world had hoped that returning the lost students would bring about some answers. However, all it did was bring more questions. None of them remembered their brainwashing. None of them remembered the speeches they made in public places about the glory of despair and destroying the hope in the world. Hinata had seen one of the videos, and that was about all he could stand.

None of them remembered the massacre of the reserve students, which meant they didn’t remember what happened to the bodies, nor the culprit. However, Hinata couldn’t shake the gut feeling that it had been him.

Hinata himself had shown signs of being experimented on, just like Junko had said. The scars that crossed his stomach were too old to have been caused by her. Was he really the lab rat for Hope’s Peak Academy? If so, it was all a waste. He didn’t have the talents that Junko said he would. Or at least, it didn’t feel like he had any talent at all.

 _You’re a worthless piece of trash, just like me_ , Komaeda’s voice said.

“Are… Are you alright?” Kirito asked.

Hinata nodded, slowly. Kirito was still skeptical.

“Anyway, if you want to get dressed, we can go now,” Kirito suggested.

“Go…? Go where?” Hinata asked.

“To Eden. To see your friends,” Kirito stated. Hinata blinked several times before his words finally sunk in.

Hinata no longer had reason to wrestle with whether or not he wanted to see them. The decision had been made for him. He rolled out of bed and landed on his knees. He then scrambled to get up and find some decent clothes, while Kirito closed the door to give him some privacy.

It took Hinata a surprising amount of time to find clean clothes among the clutter in his room, but as soon as he was dressed he rushed out the door and down the stairs to where Kirito was waiting. Kirito lead him to a car, which drove them to the warehouse where Hinata had woken up fourteen months ago. Hinata’s hands began shaking.

“Are you nervous?” Kirito asked.

Hinata took a deep breath. “About what?” he asked.

“About seeing all your friends again! It has been a while. They’ve been in Eden for about a month, but we’ve been sending them text updates while we waited for the gate to get up and running,” Kirito explained. “They understand what happened to them, and now they know the truth about the ‘traitor’ and the ‘Future Foundation’ stuff.”

“Are they really still calling it the Future Foundation?” Hinata asked. That is what the old students and teachers were calling themselves. They created a sort of support network for one another, which Hinata had declined to be a part of multiple times.

“I suppose it is fitting. They are helping those who have lost their future regain a new one,” Kirito explained as they walked up to a series of chairs, each one having a helmet on it. “These are the VR helmets. All you need to do is put one on, and it will send you straight to Eden.”

Hinata held the helmet in his hands. He hesitated and looked to Kirito, who was quickly calling all the other students. Hinata guess that either Kirito had attempted to call Hinata earlier, and Hinata didn’t answer, or Naegi had request that Kirito bring Hinata personally. Either way, Hinata wasn’t appreciating the special attention.

The others would be jumping at the chance to visit the trapped students. Owari was probably sobbing with joy knowing that she would get to see Nidai again. Kuzuryu was probably aching to tell Peko how much he missed her and how she was most definitely not a tool to him. Sonia was definitely scrambling to comfort a certain animal breeder and let him know that his Devas of Destruction were perfectly alright. Tanaka’s mother had been taking care of them while Tanaka was missing, and Sonia had been helping out.

Soda and Hinata were the only two without someone to run back to. Hinata wondered if Soda felt this way. Did he feel guilty? Did he feel scared to see them? Was he afraid of going back into that world? Was he afraid of staying here?

“… Hinata? Are you alright?” Kirito asked, looking up from the phone.

“Uh… yeah! Yeah, I am fine,” Hinata assured him.

“You’ve been staring at that helmet for a while now,” Kirito explained. “If you’re nervous about using it, I can assure you that it has been tested multiple times. There is definitely a logout button, and it won’t harm you coming back and forth. We tested for every possible problem, and I can assure you that it is safe.”

“T-Thanks,” Hinata responded. He wasn’t all that nervous about using the helmet. It was the people behind it that he was worried about. He took another quick glance at Kirito, and then sat down in the chair. He took a deep breath and slipped the helmet over his head before his own anxiety could win control over his brain.

It was a lot more jarring than the thought it would be. He felt like his soul was being ripped from its body, and then his body was thrown back at him lighter than it was before. It wasn’t long before the white world of the Nerve Gear was replaced with the salty smell of an ocean and the bright cheery cabin that Hinata was familiar with.

He got up off the bed and looked around. This was definitely his cabin from Jabberwock Island, but as he looked outside, he realized this world was a bit different. His cabin was located on the seashore and was side-by-side with many others. Although the inside was identical, it seemed the outside was made of stone as if it belonged in a fairytale forest rather than on the beach. There was a series of hills behind the cabins, one of which seemed to have the hotel from Jabberwock Island.

Hinata was about to head that direction when he was tackled from behind. He slammed into the ground with a thud, just as squealing hit his ear. “Ah! Hinata has come to see Ibuki!” the voice cried.

“H-Hi, Ibuki!” Hinata managed to say. “C-Can you get off of me now? I can’t breathe.”

Ibuki sat up and helped Hinata get up as well. She then proceeded to hug Hinata nearly to death. “Ibuki is so happy to see you!”

“H-Hinata is happy to see you too?” Hinata responded. He still wasn’t sure if he was supposed to talk in third person when speaking with Ibuki. To be honest, his brain was still trying to wrap around the fact that she was happy to see him.

She squeezed harder and Hinata relaxed slightly.

“Ibuki, where is everyone?” Hinata asked.

Ibuki let him go, and leaned back on her hands. “Scattered about. Nidai is helping Peko with her training at the training grounds and Peko is trying to avoid a run-in with Koizumi. Teruteru is following Mikan around, who keeps trying to find space to be alone. Not-Togami is running from place to place making sure everyone is alright. He won’t tell Ibuki his name, to Ibuki is calling him Nogami. Lastly, Saionji and Koizumi are together taking pictures in the garden, and that is were Tanaka is as well.”

Hinata was silent as he tried to process this. Finally, he decided that it was safe to ask the question on his mind. “So… where is Komaeda?” he asked.

“Oh, is he here?”

“W-what do you mean, is he here? He has to be here! They said everyone was here!” Hinata exclaimed.

Ibuki shrugged. “Ibuki didn’t look for Komaeda, so Komaeda might be here,” she explained. “To be honest, Komaeda freaked Ibuki out. Actually, everyone freaked Ibuki out now. She didn’t go looking for anyone. Everyone just found her.”

“What do you mean, everyone freaks you out now?” Hinata asked.

“Ibuki is now on an island of murderers. She is scared of being thrown back into the virtual void,” Ibuki admitted. Some of the cheeriness dissolved from her voice. She hid it well, but Hinata could see that she wanted to be here less now than while the murder game was going on. It had to be awkward and frightening now.

“There is no reason to kill now, Ibuki. They are working on getting you guys out, and no amount of murder will make that process faster,” Hinata stated. “You don’t have to be worried now.”

“Ibuki knows. It doesn’t stop her nerves, though.”

Hinata stood up. “I am going to look for Komaeda. I need to know that he made it back. Has anyone been in his cabin?”

“Nope! No one wanted to go in there,” Ibuki said.

Hinata walked passed cabin after cabin, checking the nameplate until he reached the one that had a cartoon Komaeda on the nameplate. He raised his hand to knock, but then stopped himself. Komaeda had made it quite clear what he thought of Hinata before Komaeda’s death. In fact, Komaeda had killed himself in such a way that he almost got everyone killed including Hinata.

 _We are nothing more than worthless trash, but at least I died like I was supposed to_ , ghost Komaeda said from Hinata’s right side. Hinata had kept his sanity this long by believing that ghost Komaeda was a liar. However, if Hinata walked in and Komaeda merely echoed what he had been saying all along…

There was the sound of breaking glass inside the cabin. Hinata jumped at the sound.

Komaeda might be hurt.

Hinata didn’t think. He simply tugged on the doorknob and swung the door open. There were purple ceramic fragments on the ground to the right side of Komaeda’s bed. Komaeda was sitting on his knees among the rubble with a slightly yellow lampshade to his right. There were tears streaming down his face and blood on his hands.

“Look at me! Look at me! I am a despair-causing worthless piece of trash,” Komaeda murmured. “I can’t even turn on a light correctly…”

Hinata held his breath. He was scared to announce his presence. He didn’t know how Komaeda would react.

Komaeda began picking up the pieces of the lamp with his bare hands, and placing the chunks on his nightstand. There were little ceramic bits pressing into his knees, and the purplish dust was covering the ground around him like a cloud at sunset. He was distracted by the pieces, so Hinata took the chance to look around.

He quickly spotted a first-aid kit to the right of the door. He picked it up, opened it, and found some bandages. He hesitated for only a millisecond before walking over to where Komaeda was and kneeling down. Komaeda’s eyes shot up.

 “You shouldn’t pick those up without gloves or something,” Hinata muttered. He then grabbed one of Komaeda’s hands and did his best to pick out any ceramic bits that burrowed into his skin.

“H…Hinata-kun?” Komaeda murmured, almost in disbelief. “H-How are you here?”

“The people who are trying to get you out just programmed a way for people to come in,” Hinata responded, not making eye contact. His heart was racing. He was just so scared. Instead of focusing on that, Hinata focused on placing a bandage on Komaeda’s right hand.

Then, he reached for Komaeda’s left hand, but Komaeda jerked away. Hinata didn’t lift his eyes. This was it. Ghost Komaeda had been telling the truth all along.

“Why…? Why are you helping me?’ Komaeda asked. Hinata merely shrugged. He knew where this was going. Komaeda was going to tell him how Hinata was unworthy of being used as a tool by anyone, even Komaeda himself. Hinata was worthless. “I… I did the most despair-inducing thing I could possibly do. I killed myself and tried to get everyone executed for it. D-Don’t you hate me?”

Hinata lifted his eyes to meet Komaeda’s teary gaze.

“H-Hate you?” Hinata asked, confused. “I… Uh… N-No, I don’t hate you…”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why don’t you hate me?” Komaeda asked. At that moment, Hinata couldn’t help but laugh. Tears began to fall down his face and Komaeda grew paler and paler. “You do, don’t you? You hate me…”

“Not at all! I was… I was so scared that you were going to hate me,” Hinata admitted. “I was terrified that… after all, I am only a reserve student…. I have no talent… I am worse trash than you…”

Komaeda’s eyes grew wide. “T-Trash?” he asked. Komaeda wasn’t accustomed to anyone using that word besides himself.

“You at least died. I wasn’t even good at that,” Hinata muttered, choking on his own words. “It should’ve been here with you.”

“What are you talking about? You… No. Just no. I… I made a mistake. It is all my fault. Instead of fighting for hope, I gave into despair. I let myself believe that all the death would bring about a great hope for all of you… Have you seen everyone now?” Komaeda asked.

Hinata shook his head.

“I have seen them from my window. Mikan is a mess who continuously avoids Ibuki, but at the same time keeps practicing how to apologize to her. Mikan spends most of her time talking to herself, arguing with herself over whether or not she is a good person. Saionji is so scared of Mikan that she won’t even come back to her own cabin. Koizumi made a memorial for Kuzuryu’s sister and keeps apologizing to it,” Komaeda explained. “Peko threw her sword away into the sea, ashamed at her own defeat. Ibuki hasn’t moved from the beach in days, and Tanaka is convinced that evil spirits are coming for vengeance since he killed Nidai. The only people who are keeping it together are Teruteru and Nogami, since they had a long conversation about what happened, and Nidai.”

Hinata smile. Nidai was always so strong, both physically and emotionally.

"This is what my hope lead to,” Komaeda concluded. “I killed myself trying to bring hope, but all I did was bring about a worse despair than if I had lived. I… I should’ve seen it coming. I saw what happened to Kuzuryu after Peko’s death. Why? Why didn’t I realize that more death wouldn’t have been any better?”

_Why didn’t we stop it?_

Hinata could see the despair draining the spirit from Komaeda’s eyes. He didn’t know what to say, so he simply took Komaeda’s left hand, and began bandaging it in silence, while both of them mourned the tragedy that had befallen them.

**Author's Note:**

> Next time on "Trauma with the 77th class": Reunion between Owari and Nidai!


End file.
